A Meeting of Minds

Maximal fights Maximal as Megatron fights Megatron over a body.

Synopsis

Megatron's talking to himself again, however Quickstrike's sense of self-preservation prevents him from opening his big mouth to mention it, instead reflecting on the Predacons' recent misfortunes. In fact, for a change, Megatron is not actually talking to himself, but to the original Megatron, whose spark the Predacon Megatron recently took into his body to receive a power boost. The Decepticon leader talks his future counterpart into a new plan, and the two Megatrons take their plan to Quickstrike, who's still awaiting trial for his recent betrayal.

Near the Maximal base, Optimus Primal sits and angsts over the way he was used by the Predacons to gain access to the Ark. He therefore fails to notice Quickstrike flying overhead on a glider with a sensor buffer stealth system and delivering a small device to the Maximal base. Within, Rattrap is complaining loudly about Primal's incessant angsting to Cheetor, much to the younger bot's annoyance. Rhinox is attempting to fix a console while Silverbolt interjects, and Blackarachnia is plain bored. Irritation soon boils over into all-in brawling, and the noise makes Primal return to base to see what's going on. Optimus manages to stop Rhinox from tearing Silverbolt limb-from-limb, and swiftly realises that the aggression is a sign of some sort of enemy attack. Unfortunately, after fending off an attack from Silverbolt, Primal succumbs to the effect himself.

Egged on by the original Megatron, Megatron flies to the Maximal base and burns his way though rock and metal into the Ark. Within, the two Megatrons find Starscream, still in stasis lock, and use a fragment of spark energy to give the Decepticon a small amount of mobility, though he is controlled by them. As Megatron is seized by Starscream, he realises too late that the original Megatron's plan was return himself to his own body. Starscream carries Megatron over to the Decepticon leader's body and opens it, while the beast Megatron's spark chamber opens ready to begin the transfer. With an immense display of willpower, the Predacon Megatron is able to subdue the older Megatron and retake control of his body. Weary from the fight, Megatron finds himself confronted by the Maximals, who've overcome the device and dealt with Quickstrike. Though they attempt to trap him, he flees the base.

Much later, after the Beast Wars end, the Maximals extract the original Megatron's spark and the fragment from Starscream, and return them to their original body.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Continuity notes

• A Meeting of Minds mostly takes place between the Beast Wars episodes "Master Blaster" and "Other Victories". Events from "Master Blaster" are heavily referenced, such as Optimus Primal's body being controlled by Quickstrike and Tarantulas's betrayal of Megatron. Quickstrike's impending "trial", as seen in "Other Victories", is also alluded to.
• The story's final scene is effectively a version of the deleted scene from "Nemesis Part 2", where Megatron's spark is returned. Events like this were later confirmed to be canon by Ask Vector Prime.

Errors

• On page 12, "Primal" is misspelled as "Prima".
• On page 13, Cheetor is said to have rocket afterburners, plural. Though he did have two afterburners in his Transmetal form, as a Transmetal 2, he only has one.

Trivia

• Rattrap apparently has "tail cannons" accessible in his beast mode.
• Tarantulas, Dinobot, Dinobot II, Prowl, Jazz, Ravage, Soundwave, Hound, Rumble, Laserbeak, and Sideswipe are all name-dropped throughout the course of the story.
• In the accompanying booklet with the Madman Season 3 DVD boxset, Simon Furman acknowledges this story as one of the discarded ideas from his initial discussions with Bob Forward when he was approached to write episodes for Beast Wars (his sole contribution ending up being "Nemesis Part 2").